Blog #123: Having Compassion Around the Holidays
If there is one thing I have learned from 15 years of working in retail, it is that compassion is very hard to come by, especially around the holidays. It seems like everywhere I go, there is not a whole lot of compassion coming around from other people and people seem like they are above one another.
As an autistic/neurodiverse individual, this greatly bothers me and one of the reasons I choose to move on from the retail industry is because there is no compassion. It seems like during the holidays or any time during the year, compassion is nonexistent and what everyone just wants is that turkey or the hottest gift that everyone else wants aside from you.
Now this isn’t to say that retail is a great industry to work in. Some people love it, there are plenty of jobs and you can make a decent amount of money. But many companies want you to play by their rules and that includes leaving compassion at the door for the most part. Still, if a customer is struggling with getting their groceries out to the car, I try to help them with their loads.
But some companies don’t care about compassion and instead just focus on making money and that spreads into our society as a whole.
Just recently, Target Stores has demonstrated a sense of compassion by closing their stores for all of Thanksgiving Day. I will get into more details about Black Friday in an upcoming blog, but I thought I’d point this out since holidays are a time for family and not for doing business. Putting business over family time is the ultimate form of non-compassion and a complete insult to human decency in general.
If 2020 and 2021 have taught me anything, it is that compassion is a necessity and survival skill just as much as flexibility. If there is someone who wants something on the same level as me, I give that someone that something. I don’t fight like a moron and just admit defeat when I know I can admit because I can empathize with them. Autistic/Neurodiverse feel empathy and compassion, even though we may not always show it.
Catch you all later!!
